Stuck in Huế

October 7, 2024 to October 11, 2024

Monday the 7th of October

The weather forecast for the rest of our time on Vietnam suggests we're in for some rain.

We took a chance on what we hoped was a break in the rain to hop on the bikes and make a dash for the bus terminal. We hadn't made more than a few hundred meters when the heavens opened once more. Spying a shop across the road selling rain ponchos we decided it was time to procure a pair. They made cycling a bit challenging but at least we stayed dry.

On the subject of challenging cycling, we're finding the traffic here in Huế to be far more hectic than before. Maybe the heavy rain just makes it seem so.

The bus tickets to Savannakhet could only be paid for in cash so it was back onto the rain to find an ATM. Finally we had our tickets in our hands and now the only hurdle is whether the bus driver will accept our bicycles or not.

Tuesday the 8th of October

Despite the heavy rain forecast for today, we foolishly set off to the Imperial City on foot with just one umbrella between the two of us. It is three kilometers away from our digs so we were sure to get wet at some point.

Sure enough it had started raining by the time we reached the river. Leigh was surprisingly easily persuaded by a rather pushy boatman to catch a ride up the Hương (Perfume) River to the entrance. This would have been OK had he not reneged on the agreed upon price once we had moored on the other side. I grumbled a bit but it did take two kilometers of wet walking off the distance.

The Imperial City was constructed in 1803 under Emperor Gia Long and is a walled enclosure within the old Huế citadel, the imperial capital during the Nguyễn dynasty. It contains the palaces that housed the imperial family, as well as shrines, gardens, and villas for mandarins and is based on Beijing's Forbidden City. After the end of the monarchy in 1945, it suffered heavy damage and neglect during the Indochina Wars through the 1980s. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.

We had visited the it eight years ago on our first cycle tour of Vietnam so I wasn't expecting too much. However, much has changed since then and there has been a lot more restoring done, most of it quite tastefully.

Approaching the citadel within which the Imperial City lies.

The view from the Thế Miếu temple, dedicated to nine Nguyen dynasty emperors, represented by nine urns.

Detail of a Sarus Crane (Antigone antigone) on one of the urns.

There were numerous young Vietnamese women wandering around in traditional dress.

Of course, at some point it had to start raining heavily. Noah himself would have been somewhat concerned. The final downpour lasted over an hour and visitors to the Imperial City were taking refuge wherever there was a roof over their heads.

In one of the halls in which we took shelter we found an intriguingly constructed poem that seemed appropriate for the day.

The country in the rain

The river is winding;

In the wind the water overflows the banks.

Masses of clouds are floating the mountains;

Raindrops look like a myriad of diamonds.

Breeding the moss in the streams;

Lush plants waver.

A fishing boat is leisurly rowed by a nimble man;

A couple of sparrows are heading for the forest.

By the time we got back to our digs it was already half past two and our legs were telling us that they had walked far enough for one day. It might have been better to have taken the bicycles.

Thursday the 10th of October

We had a few dry spells interrupting the rain yesterday so we set off on foot to find a photo shop to get passport photos for our visa-on-arrival applications when we get to the Laos border on Friday. Of course, we did eventually get caught in the rain but at least we got a bit of exercise.

Today's forecast was for a dry-ish morning so we hopped on the bicycles straight after breakfast and headed out to the tomb of Emperor Minh Mạng (aka Nguyễn Thánh Tổ), the second of the Nguyễn emporers. The tombs of the Nguyễn dynasty emperors are the next big tourist attraction after the Imperial City. We had visited the most important tomb, that of Emperor Tự Đức, eight years ago but hadn't had the time to get to Minh Mạng's at that time. It is set in a lovely park about thirteen kilometers south of the city at the confluence of the Huu Trach and Ta Trach Rivers at which point the Perfume or Huong River starts.

The gardens at the tomb were full of various butterfly species. I counted at least five different ones but I have no idea what they are.

As we were finishing up the rain started to fall and we cycled back to the city in an absolute downpour.

Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 873 km (542 miles)

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Andrea BrownWhile we loved our time in Vietnam 7 years ago, the rain! If you are stuck inside and want to kill some time, here is the video of our Vietnam trip including the 16 straight days of rain in central Vietnam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfnnSr95ksA&t=3s

I loved Hue too, but I had a weird hand injury/infection starting up and was pretty worried about it. We eventually went to a hospital in Danang and got it lanced, so good times.
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2 months ago

Jean-Marc StrydomFive minutes into the video Leigh said : "I thought that they had 16 days of rain". And then we got to the 17th minute!
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2 months ago